In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first animal into space -- a dog named Laika -- aboard the Sputnik 2 spacecraft.

In 1964, Lyndon Johnson was elected U.S. president with a margin larger than in any previous election, defeating Republican Barry Goldwater.

In 1976, former Democratic Gov. Jimmy Carter of Georgia was elected the 39th U.S. president, defeating Republican incumbent Gerald Ford.

In 1979, five members of the Communist Workers Party, participating in a "Death to the Klan" rally in Greensboro, N.C., were shot to death by a group of Klansmen and neo-Nazis. Seven others were wounded.

In 1995, Typhoon Angela killed more than 700 people in the northern Philippines.

In 2001, Osama bin Laden, in a taped message, called the U.S.-led attack on Afghanistan a war against Islam.

Also in 2001, anthrax spores were confirmed in India and Pakistan and on additional postal equipment in the United States.

In 2004, Hamid Karzai was officially declared the winner in Afghanistan's first presidential election.

In 2006, Katharine Jefferts Schori was installed as the first female presiding bishop of the U.S. Episcopal Church.

In 2007, citing a rising Islamic insurgency, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency, suspended the country's constitution and fired members of the Supreme Court. Former premier and opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was held under house arrest to keep her from a planned protest march.

In 2008, Afghan officials said a U.S. airstrike hit a wedding party in the southern province of Kandahar, killing a reported 40 civilians and wounding 30 others.

In 2009, the Republican Party, after a clobbering in 2008 at all levels, won the off-year governor's races in New Jersey and Virginia, the latter featuring a GOP sweep of statewide offices.

Also in 2009, Maine voters overturned a law allowing same-sex marriage, the 31st state to block the procedure through a public referendum.

In 2010, the U.S. Federal Reserve announced it would buy $600 billion of the United States' huge national debt with treasury bonds.

A thought for the day: in his second inaugural address, U.S. President Bill Clinton said: "Government is not the problem and government is not the solution. We, the American people, we are the solution."

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